Gaming Students May Transfer Locally

Students in the Lone Star College-Tomball Game Design and Simulation program will now have the opportunity to complete a bachelor's degree without leaving the Greater Houston Area.

The University of Houston - Victoria Sugarland campus will offer junior and senior level classes for game design students who have completed their first two years at a community college, allowing students to earn a Bachelors of Applied Arts and Sciences or a Bachelors of Computer Science in Game Design.

Lone Star College-Tomball offers two specialty tracks for students: Design (art/graphic design) and Development (programming). All game design students must complete basic design courses such as Introduction to Game Design, Level Design, Writing and Storyboarding for Games, and Game Testing. In addition, students will participate in the development of a game or simulation as part of their second year in the program.

The past two years students have been working on simulations involving emergency response simulation for a campus shooter and the political process from the candidate's point of view.

"These simulations have gained national attention from the Community College Center for Civic Engagement, individuals within the game industry, and government agencies," said Dep-Wah Davis, instructor of Computer Information Technology at LSC-Tomball. "This allows students to have a strong representative work within their portfolio that was completed in an environment similar to what would be experienced within a game design studio."

Registration for the fall semester is currently under way. For more information on the Game Design and Development program, contact Davis at 281-401-1802 or e-mail at dep-wah.davis@LoneStar.edu. For registration or financial aid information, call 281.351.3300 or visit Tomball.LoneStar.edu.

Lone Star College-Tomball is located at 30555 Tomball Parkway in Tomball, Texas.

The Lone Star College System consists of five colleges, including Cy-Fair, Kingwood, Montgomery, North Harris, and Tomball, six centers and Lone Star College-University Center. With 49,250 students, it is the largest college system in the Houston area, and third largest community college district in Texas. To learn more, visit http://www.lonestar.edu/.